Bolton Old Hall moated site

Overview

Location

Reasons for Designation

Around 6,000 moated sites are known in England. They consist of wide ditches, often or seasonally water-filled, partly or completely enclosing one or more islands of dry ground on which stood domestic or religious buildings. In some cases the islands were used for horticulture. The majority of moated sites served as prestigious aristocratic and seigneurial residences with the provision of a moat intended as a status symbol rather than a practical military defence. The peak period during which moated sites were built was between about 1250 and 1350 and by far the greatest concentration lies in central and eastern parts of England. However, moated sites were built throughout the medieval period, are widely scattered throughout England and exhibit a high level of diversity in their forms and sizes. They form a significant class of medieval monument and are important for the understanding of the distribution of wealth and status in the countryside. Many examples provide conditions favourable to the survival of organic remains.

Bolton Old Hall moated site survives well and will retain significant information on the buildings which occupied it, and on the manner and duration of its usage. The well preserved moats will retain organic materials.

Details

The moated site at Old Hall, Bolton includes a main site with two rectangular islands, defined by a silted and now dry moat, a smaller moated site attached to the south-eastern corner of the main site, and an outer moat which lies to the north and east of the main site which includes a fishpond in its northern arm. The two islands of the main moated site are both orientated north-east to south-west. The northern island measures 100m long and 30m wide; the southern island measures 70m long by 40m wide. The moat which divides these two islands is 2m deep and 11m wide; the enclosing moat is between 1.5m and 2m deep and 10m wide. The smaller moated site lies to the south-east of the main site and is attached to the eastern corner of the main moat by a short silted channel. The enclosed island of this smaller site is 10m long south-east to north-west and 6m wide and is enclosed by a (now dry) moat 0.5m deep and 3m-4m wide. To the north and east of the main moated site an outer moat is separated from the main moat by an earthen bank 30m wide. The eastern arm of this outer moat is 10m wide and 2m deep at its deepest point. At the northern end it is shallower where it has been partially infilled; at its southern end it has been largely infilled and partially built over. The northern arm of this outer moat is 1m deep and 6m wide. A section of it has been widened to form a fishpond which is 26m long east-west, 13m wide and 1.5m deep. Originally this outer moat would have been connected to the moat around the main site; the nature and position of any such link is now not clear. There is no evidence that the outer moat originally extended around the west and south sides of the main moated site, although slight earthworks to the south of the latter may be a remnant of an intermediate bank similar to that on the north and east. The monument was the site of a house owned by Ralph de Micklefield de Birkin, nephew of Archbishop Grey, and Robert de Bolton, one of Yorkshire's medieval Members of Parliament. All telegraph poles which stand on the site are excluded from the scheduling but the ground beneath them is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

21195

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Le Patourel, H E J, Moated site of Yorkshire, (1973), 110
Other
CUC BFA 22-24, CUC BFA 22-24,

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.